September 11, 2001 Remembrance

[Anonymous]

Driving to work, in Atlanta at the time. I listened to one of those radio stations that had obnoxious morning DJs and I thought they were screwing around/setting up some dumb prank at first.

My employer made (terrible) billing / time tracking software and we knew some of our client firms were in the building. We shut down for the day...

[Anonymous]

I had just started 6th grade. My dad worked at the Pentagon at the time, but he'd been sick that day. My parents picked me up early from school. I was just old enough that no one thought to shield me from the images, so I stayed glued to the news all day trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

[Anonymous]

I live on the West Coast & was woken up around nine AM by the phone.

My best friend was on the line.
“Debbie, what is going on in our world today??…. “

She told me to turn on the T.V. and I was shocked.
She told me the WTC was attacked and that all air travel in the country was banned.

It all seemed surreal to me but I stayed glued to the T.V. as much as I could before attending classes at my local junior college.
When I arrived, the campus was emptying out and I turned around and went home.

Two days later it was revealed that the Mosque 🕌 that was located a stone’s throw from my community college was where two of the alleged terrorists worshipped.
The Mosque had a very, heavy law enforcement surrounding the perimeter.

[Anonymous]

I was at work, on the phone with a coworker when someone next to her yelled out that a plane hit the WTC. Then the morning just became chaos as everything unfolded. I couldn’t/didn’t want to metro home. I ended up going home with my coworker-we randomly asked a stranger for a ride. Only time I’ve ever hitchhiked. I couldn’t get a cell phone signal, but then a friend in CA was able to call me and I asked her to call my parents for me. Hours of sitting glued to the TV coverage with my coworker and her husband.

Hard to believe it’s been 20 years. The footage that I’ve been seeing is hitting me harder than usual this year.

[Anonymous]

It is crazy how it is so etched in our brains for all of us. I was in 5th grade in Alaska, so 4 hours behind east coast time. My dad woke me up around 6:00 am, turned on the tv, sat on my bed and said “We’re being bombed” just as the first tower collapsed. I can picture everything about that moment and hear those words like it was yesterday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Although this goes without saying, what a horrific tragedy. We must, of course, be sure to remember the many people who lost their lives and honor the heroes.

Yet you felt it necessary to say it. Weird.

Yes, we all remember and think of what was lost. That, however, was not what this thread was about.

It's September 11 remembrance.

[Anonymous]

I was in the 14th floor of a Rosslyn VA high-rise. My office window view was to the south.

We heard about the NYC attack (once the second plane crashed, it was clear it was an attack).

I tried to call my wife but could not get through.

I then called my mom (in Idaho). We were talking about the phone when I saw a streak ending with a fireball at the Pentagon. I told my mom they just hit the Pentagon. She said no-- it is in WTC. I said I just saw it, she questioned it saying the news did not say anything. Then the shockwave hit my building and she heard the boom through the phone. I said I need to go.

I found a ride home, and when home. I could not get a local exchange for calling, but could call to Idaho. I had my mom call my wife (3 months pregnant), to let her know I am heading home. I guided the ride to my house (I knew the backroads, he only knew I66, which was gridlocked. Interestingly, we got home reasonably fast.

That was not a good day at work.

[Anonymous]

On the Hill. It was scary as we were evacuated, and I didn’t know exactly what was going on as we were quickly evacuated from the building. I wasn’t prepared for the crowds outside or the police and military presence as everyone flooded into the streets. Then people explained what had happened in NY and pointed out the smoke coming from the pentagon.

It was terrifying.

It took hours to get home after convincing a cab driver to drop me off at the border in PG County and I arranged for a ride to get me back to my home in MoCo.

I shared the cab with a stranger who recognized the logo on a bag I was carrying, said he was a lobbyist from out of state and wasn’t sure where to go, so he tagged along with me and I helped get him to a hotel in MD near a rental car agency so he could eventually drive home to TX the next day.

I wish I had been somewhere else that day. Today’s gorgeous weather is reminiscent of that day 20 years ago.

It turns out I sorta knew someone who died at the Pentagon (it was the spouse of a law school classmate).

I didn’t watch any of the replays of planes crashing or the Towers crashing to the ground into dust back then. I only saw the video footage this week for the first time.

I still remember the panic I felt in the crowd on the Hill. Mobile phones were jammed. People were speculating. Shoulder to shoulder crowds being yelled at by law enforcement to move quickly. Terrifying.

[Anonymous]

Home with a newborn in Georgetown. I’m from NY originally and cried all day. My husband got stuck in traffic for 5 hrs trying to get out of town and ultimately abandoned his car south of our house and walked the rest of the way home to be with us. My mother who was visiting ended up staying weeks longer (no flights) and then finally took Amtrak all the way to FL. #Never Forget

[Anonymous]

I was walking through Union Square when the first plane flew over. It was so loud, something was not right. Turned around and saw the gaping hole in the side of the tower so new, there wasn’t even a wisp of smoke yet. That image is burned into my memory forever.

[Anonymous]

I was a Junior in college & studying abroad. I definitely learned a lot about how the rest of world views America - being abroad at that time.

My husband (who I did not know yet at the time) worked in the WTC but he wasn’t at work yet that morning.

[Anonymous]

I was early in my career at the State Department. When I heard the Pentagon was hit I self-evacuated, oddly a full 10 minutes before the building itself was evacuated. I made it home in time to watch the towers fall live on TV.

I grew up in Manhattan and spent the rest of the week with my family in NYC. My brother was a downtown emergency room doctor at the time, and I remember he rushed to work to help receive patients. What he got were a few people with dust in their eyes. Everyone else was dead.

[Anonymous]

We were at the beach on Sept 10 and my DH had reservation on the plane that hit crashed in PA for a business meeting in LA. I talked him out of going because it was a business development meeting and he needed the rest. Stay another day …so he did. His friend scheduled for the same meeting in LA was on Flight 11.
On Sept 11 itself DH was dropping my sister to Union Station. He called and said there has been accident in NYC that will touch our lives. I turned in the TV and watched the tower fall.

[Anonymous]

Dropped off my then first grader at school in VA. Went home and was cleaning, turned on TV and watched it live. Had window open and then heard Pentagon being hit in distance.

[Anonymous]

I was a Sophomore at GW. One of my roommates for a call from her father just after the first attack and we turned on the tv to watch. I remember the pure shock of seeing the second attack and the panic for friends/family in NYC. I also stupidly remember wondering if I still had to go to my 9:30 class. I starting walking to class, but at some point on the way heard it was cancelled.

One of the biggest things I remember about 9/11 was about week later. I went back home for Rosh Hashana services and remember hearing 2 older ladies talking in synagogue about the attacks and one said NYC would rebound and that Trump would build a bigger, better building with spikes to impale planes. Never would have guessed what would have happened 15 years after that comment.